


Seeds of Doubt

by Secondprinces



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst mostly, Gen, POssessed sons AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-27
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-10 10:59:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6981583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Secondprinces/pseuds/Secondprinces
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The same thing that possessed Takumi now feeds off the resentment in Forrest and Kiragi's hearts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forrest

**Author's Note:**

> Born of the ["possessed sons" AU ](http://classycloudcuckoolanderclasso.tumblr.com/post/144933672031/leokumi-family-au-fic-idea-leo-and-takumi-have-to).
> 
> I'll work on it bit by bit. Might turn out slightly tragic.
> 
> A bit with Kiragi coming up soon. I'm going to treat it as if Leo and Takumi are in an established relationship, and thus Forrest and Kiragi are somewhat like brothers. ;D

It started as a small seed of doubt.

Forrest, measuring tape draped over his neck, stood next to an empty dressform.  The door had just clicked shut, and he could hear the ring of hooves on the cobblestone path.

His father, leaving after an unexpected but brief visit.

Lord Leo had scarcely spoken, and these meetings often felt more like obligation than anything else. An afterthought.  Sure, he’d had tea with him, looked over his designs with feigned interest, asked him about his life.

And Forrest had answered, mustering as much enthusiasm as he could—praying that his father would respond in kind.

The best he got was a tired smile and sad eyes, as Leo glanced back at him and closed the door. “I’ll visit again soon.  See to it that you also keep up with your studies.”

“Don’t put yourself out on my account,” Forrest muttered, jamming his beret on over his head and storming to the window.  He watched the cloud of dust settle as the hoof-beats ground into silence.

He was too agitated to pin his fabric properly, coming away with haphazard drapes on the form and bloodied fingers.  Frustrated, he chucked the tomato pincushion and flounced into the little window seat. His eyes were dry, but they burned.

“You’re not worthy of me anyway.  Even if you cared to be—you’ll never be worthy of me—“

 _Not worthy_.

_Not worthy._

_Not worthy._

Forrest’s shoulders shook. Rain splattered across the window. The sky crackled with static energy as it dimmed to grey.  

_Not worthy._

Forrest’s fists clenched in his lap.  His jaw tightened.

_No one loves you, Forrest._

_You’re not worthy._

_You’ll never be worthy._

“I’ll never be worthy.” Tears seethed as he screwed his eyes shut.  “I’ll never be good enough…”

_N o t w o r t h y._

How empty he felt.

How tired.

And how strangely…solid that vortex of darkness swelling in him felt, like a crutch for a sagging body, a hand pulling him to his feet.

 _I should just show him_.   _Show him how…worthy, I am._


	2. Kiragi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Resentment spreads.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And boom, there's Kiragi. I'll see about writing more tomorrow, depending on what I hear from my family. lots of family stuff going on, unfortunately. ;;;
> 
> ps. if you wanna derp around with me, i made a twitter this week called "secondprinces". i'm really bad at twitter, so at the very least you can laugh at me. (:

 “Uh…Forrest?”  Kiragi hopped up onto the pile of books Forrest was supposed to be studying and peered down into his face, poking him once between the eyes.  “Forrest, are you okay?”

“S’no point…there’s no point, don’t you see…”  Forrest’s eyes were open but glazed over.

Even when Kiragi waved his hands in front of his face, they did not focus.

“Forrest?  You’re scaring me…”  Kiragi loomed closer.  “ _Forrest_ , wake _up_ —“

“I’ll show him…I’ll show him…”

Kiragi seized him by the shoulders and shook.  Though he was smaller than Forrest, he rattled him back and forth until his brother blinked rapidly and wrenched away, cheeks puffing out as he smoothed out the front of his shirt.  “W-what’s going on—“

A bright grin spread over Kiragi’s face.  “There you are!”

Forrest blinked slowly, but righted himself, adjusting his hat and running his fingers through disheveled curls.  “I don’t remember inviting you over.”  His lips pursed.

“That’s because you didn’t,” Kiragi said simply, “But I was around and I was wondering what you were up to.”  The smile spread to his eyes.  He bounded down from the books and hopped up to sit on the kitchen table.  “Kinda weird that you fell asleep with your eyes open.”

“I…I did?”

“Yeah, and you were saying weird stuff too.”  Kiragi cocked his head.  “My dad always said it’s important to get proper sleep—and he taught me a remedy for bad nightmares.  He’s the greatest.”

“Ah, I see,” Forrest murmured, putting on another kettle for tea.  He massaged his temples, unsure if it was Kiragi’s general volume or something lingering that was throbbing through the base of his skull.  “I suppose I’m just…out of sorts.”

“Yeah, me too,” Kiragi admitted.  He drew his knees up to his chest, feet now up on the table, and rested his chin down over his arms.

“Kiragi—sit in a chair like a civilized person, please.”  Still, Forrest’s face was the picture of concern, even as Kiragi slid down from the table and draped himself over a chair.  “That’s better.”

The water boiled.  He poured it into two cups, plunking in little satchets of herbs and spices.  He set one down in front of Kiragi.  “Let it steep for a little while.”

“It needs sugar,” Kiragi said. 

“In a little bit,” Forrest said, though he placed a few cubes onto the saucer with a sigh. 

Kiragi leaned forward and blew ripples across the darkening surface. 

“Did you want to talk about it?” Forrest finally asked.  “You normally go into the forest when you’re upset.”

“This time I went _to_ the Forrest.”

“I don’t know you.”

Kiragi pouted, but tapped idly at one of the sugar cubes.  “But anyway.  Just that my dad visited the other day.”

“You like your dad,” Forrest said. 

“Yeah…”  He plunked the first cube in and watched it dissolve.  Then, he took a spoon and haphazardly sloshed liquid around.  The second cube, he stuck straight in his mouth, and spoke around it.  “I like to go hunting with him.  And I like that he’s always excited to see my progress with the bow and stuff like that.”

“Then what’s the problem”

 _At least his dad tries.  At least his dad gives two shits about him_. 

Forrest shuddered.  That black ichor rose in him, swelling up with each breath.  He swallowed, sipping his tea to steady himself, eyes shut a moment.  His head pounded harder.

_All my dad has been is ashamed of me.  He will never love me._

“He hates himself so _much_ ,” Kiragi said.  “And I try to tell him that no, he’s a great dad and I love him so much—but he never believes me?  His smile is always so sad?  And he puts himself down in front of me or in front of almost-dad.  And no matter what I say or do, I can’t convince him.”  The sugar turned bitter in his mouth as the last of it coated his tongue.  He sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve.  “You’re supposed to believe the ones you love, right?  If he’s so bad, then that makes me a liar—and I’m not a liar—“

“You’re not,” Forrest said, quietly.  The words almost tasted metallic, like he was spitting blood.

“Yeah, I’m not—“ Kiragi huffed.  “Why is he so blind.  Why am I not enough?”  He abandoned his tea to bury his face in Forrest’s middle, clinging tight.  Tears seeped through his brother’s dress.

Forrest’s hands shook into the embrace.  Purple blotched the edges of his vision, rising in smoky tendrils somewhere past his peripherals.  An icy numbness contrasted with the heat boiling inside.  He rubbed his brother’s back, slowly.  Some of that darkness seeped into Kiragi.

“You’ll never be enough for him, just as I will never be enough for my father,” Forrest whispered, somewhere past the static in his skull.

Kiragi tensed, but shuddered as cold leached into his core.  Darkness permeated every broken fiber of his heart until it almost felt full again.

 _You can’t carry him_ , the voices told Kiragi.  _Your words mean nothing to him.  He doesn’t want your help.  He spits in the face of any help from you.  Your optimism is just an annoyance.  You’ll never be enough._

The archer closed his eyes, but the tears were gone.  “I can’t carry him, so why should I try.  What’s the point in trying to help someone who won’t even help themselves.”

“We don’t need them,” Forrest said.  He drew his brother back to look into his eyes.  Red and blank, they matched Kiragi’s, lost in a haze of vile purple energy.  “They are not worthy of us.”


	3. I won't be silenced

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm listening to this super creepy Until Dawn playlist on 8tracks right now. FYI.

“Kiragi?”

Two laps through the tiny cabin and the forest packing the deeprealm, and Takumi found no trace of his son. 

“ _Kiragi_!”  He cupped his hands and shouted louder.

The trees rattled as birds flung themselves into the sky.  An eerie stillness overtook fading wingbeats.

“So help me, if you’re hiding up in a tree giggling at me right now—“  Takumi shook his head, taking a deep breath. 

The warmth drained from the sun.  Silence choked the air.

Annoyance jolted into panic.

“Gods, if you’ve left your realm again—“  He wrung his hands.  “I can’t even protect you when you’re tucked away someplace safe.”

He dashed back into the little hut, rifling through some of the papers littering the table, looking for some kind of note—anything—to give his intentions.  His bow, usually propped up in the corner near his bed, was gone.  A few dirty dishes piled in the sink—recent, judging by the state of things.  He was here a day ago, but not sooner.

“Kiragi—“

He stopped short.  A slip of paper had swooped under the table, ripped from one of his books and scrawled with chicken scratch.  Takumi ducked down so quickly to snatch it up that he cracked his head on the table.

 _Gone to Forrest’s.  Should be back by sundown_.

Finally Takumi released a breath.  “Oh thank the gods.”

Sundown of yesterday though—

But Forrest’s deeprealm was a place to start.  “Knowing the two of them, he probably got roped into modeling an outfit.  Or turned into a human pincushion—“

His laugh was strained, but his racing heart settled as he slung the fujin yumi over his shoulder and slipped out the door.

He and Leo sometimes visited Forrest’s deeprealm, and the two were connected through secret passage just beyond the woods so that the brothers could easily meet.

Still, what should have been relief crowded Takumi’s lungs until each breath was a struggle for air.  Something was not right.

A stick cracked.

Leaves rustled.

A flash of movement caught the corner of Takumi’s eye—

And he whirled around, bow drawn and string spasming bright into the waning dusk.  He trained the arrow on a shape hugging the treetops, something crouched among the branches.

“Kiragi, if that’s you, I’m going to ask you to stop this at once,” Takumi bit out.  “This isn’t funny.”

_“I won’t be silenced.”_

It came as a rasp.

“Ki…ragi?”  Takumi did not ease the tension on his bowstring.  “Kiragi, come down here.  It’s me.  It’s your dad.”

 _“I won’t.  be.  Silenced.”_   Its laugh grated against the stillness.  _“I won’t be dismissed.”_

“The hell are you talking about.” 

Kiragi dropped like a stone.  He rose, stance wide, his bow pulled past taut and arrow notched.

“Kiragi, lower your weapon,” Takumi said, voice little more than a whisper.  “Kiragi, it’s _me_.  It’s your father.”  Slowly, Takumi lowered his own bow, gradually releasing the string until it fizzled into nothing. 

Devoid of the weapon’s light, the forest sank to darkness.

Kiragi’s bow remained poised.  _“You never listen.  You think I’m a liar.  My words mean nothing.  Does that make me nothing?”_   A laugh scraped through him, his body shuddering.  _“Maybe you’re nothing.”_   Even in the dark, Kiragi’s eyes seethed red.  A smirk slashed across his face.  _“You want to be nothing.  Let me help you, father.”_

Takumi’s heart froze.  He staggered a step forward, reaching to push the arrow to one side.  His other hand found Kiragi’s shoulder.  “Kiragi.  Listen to me—“  His thoughts raced; a dull buzz thundered through his skull.  “Kiragi.  Listen.  You have to fight it.  Whatever it’s whispering in your ear—you have to tell it no—you have to—you have to come back to me.  Back to your father.  I defeated it—you have to too--”

 _“I won’t be silenced,”_ it said.  Kiragi took a step forward.  And took aim.

And shot.

The arrow—as close as it was—pierced Takumi’s shoulder through, the tip emerging bloodied as Takumi screamed out and stumbled back.  His bow dropped, forgotten in the leaves.

A barking laugh ripped from Kiragi’s throat.  “ _I’ll silence you.  Let me silence you, father.  You can finally be nothing_.”

Shaking, Takumi snatched at Kiragi’s bow with his good arm, the other hanging uselessly by his side.  Waves of pain and nausea rolled into one.  Dizziness lit cold sweat across his forehead.  Black throbbed the edges of his vision. 

“Kiragi, I won’t back down.”  His breath came in ragged gasps.  He wrenched the bow from his son’s hands.

 _“I can’t be something if my father is nothing_ ,” it said, stepping forward.  _“I won’t be silenced.  Never again.”_ Kiragi reached for the fujin yumi.  _“I’m better than you, Father.  I deserve what you do not_.”  When he picked it up, the gossamer string throbbed violent, sputtering light—pure blue fragmented with purple as he drew it back.  The arrow that formed fumed dark energy.

“I can’t allow you to kill me,” Takumi breathed. 

 _“Then fight back, father.  Prove your worth._ ”

“I won’t hurt you.”

Kiragi scoffed.  _“Because you’re nothing.”_   His lips twitched into a manic smile.

“TAKUMI—“

A tangle of vines lashed out at Kiragi’s feet—pulsing with verdant energy.  The arrow sliced through a tree somewhere behind Takumi as Kiragi stumbled backwards, legs wrapped in thorns.  He crashed into the undergrowth.

“Leo,” Takumi managed, glancing back at the glow of Brynhildr.  Leo approached, hand still extended, fingers sparking with magic.

But when he glanced back at Kiragi, the boy was gone—

“Leo,” Takumi breathed, staggering toward him.  “Leo.  Kiragi is.  Something is wrong with Kiragi.”

Then he sagged toward the ground.  Darkness overtook him.


	4. Too Little Too Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for posting this then taking it down. my beta had some really good advice so I ended up re-vamping a HUGE portion of this piece
> 
> again, also sorry for short updates. my schooling is kicking my ass in a major way, so I work as I have time. 
> 
> anyhow, I hope you enjoy! after this I'm writing a Leokumi family fluff fic or something to make up for the feel. Because this fic is nOT gonna end pretty.

Takumi woke to a pounding headache and the warmth of Leo’s thigh.  His vision wavered as he sat up.  “Hnn?” 

Leo steadied him with a hand on his uninjured shoulder.  “You were out for a few hours.”

“Why was I unconscious?”  With a hiss of breath, he brought his hand to the wound—neatly wrapped, though blood seeped through the cloth.  It all came back.  “We have to find Kiragi—“  He struggled against Leo’s hold, which only tightened.  His breaths were staggered gasps.  “We have to—Kiragi was—“

“I saw him,” Leo said.  “But I don’t know where he went.”

“Why didn’t you _follow him_?” 

“Calm down,” Leo said.  “I don’t want to rewrap your shoulder.”  Leo did, however, loosen his hold on Takumi, helping him to his feet.  They stood alone in the forest, crowded by trees and tangled in underbrush.  The only source of light was the pulse of Brynhildr.  The quiet was suffocating, not marred by the rustle of wind or the call of birds.

“I didn’t follow him because I couldn’t leave you bleeding out,” Leo finally said, after a considerable silence.  “And I…was afraid that any attempts to capture him would result in his injury.  He was not afraid to retaliate.”  His gaze fell on Takumi’s shoulder.

Takumi bristled.  “I don’t want him to—if anything happened to him—“

“I know,” Leo murmured.  “Just.  Let me think.”

“How could I let this happen…”

“It’s not your fault.”  He worried his lip, massaging his temples.  “I only came here in search of Forrest.  It’s fortunate I did.”  An uneasy pit settled into his stomach.  “I can only hope that Forrest is alright as well.  If Kiragi attacked him too…”

“I—I was on my way to Forrest’s deeprealm when Kiragi attacked me,” Takumi said.  He clasped a hand to his bandage with a seething hiss.  “Kiragi had left a note—but—“  
  
Leo frowned.  That uneasiness gnawed deeper, until it twisted into raw panic.  “We have to stay calm.  We have to.  We have to think.  We’ll find them both.  And we’ll—“  He swallowed.  “We’ll snap Kiragi out of whatever has a hold of him.”  He closed his eyes and took another breath. 

Takumi nodded, drawing from Leo’s firm strength.  “Right.”  His hand shook, even as he gripped Leo’s elbow.  He forced his legs to take one step after the other, in the direction Kiragi had run.

Leo followed close behind, always ready to catch him should he stumble.

The going was slow.  Eventually, Takumi stopped and held a hand to a tree, leaning to fight another wave of dizziness.  “I think that…I think that whatever has Kiragi is what possessed me.  When we were at war.”

“ _Gods_ ,” Leo hissed.

“And I barely got out by the skin of my teeth—it almost took me.  And it’s going to take Kiragi—“

“No, because we know more about it than we did when you dealt with it,” Leo said.  His own hand shook, but he rubbed Takumi’s back and tightened it around his arm.  “Who better to pull Kiragi back than his own father.  You love that boy with all your heart.  And he _knows_ that.”

“ _That’s rich.  Coming from_ you _, Father.”_

Leo shot stiff. 

The voice warped into a barked laugh.

With the crack of foliage, Forrest stepped from the trees, pink pants ripped and hair disheveled.  He made a show of primping, giggle just short of sinister as he brushed the dirt from his white blouse and fluffed his frills.  “Yes, Father, I’m here.  I’d been gone for several days, and you hadn’t even noticed.  Grade A, parenting.  Perhaps you were relieved, even.”

“I was the opposite of relieved,” Leo said.  He watched him carefully, eyes narrowed and lip curled downward.  “And right now, also the opposite of amused.”

 “Opposite of relieved?  Hmm, you always were the convincing liar.  Always so calm and collected spinning your tails.  But I’d seen the real you.”  Forrest kept his voice quiet but sweet, as if murmuring easy conversation.  “The you that called me a disgrace.  Wished I was anything but this.”  He gestured to himself as his fingers stroked his tome. 

Leo scoffed.  “You really think this is the time for this, Forrest?  Go back to your deeprealm before I put you there myself.”

Takumi drew a breath between clenched teeth.  “Leo, I don’t think—“

“ _Ha_ , Father!” Forrest laughed.  “You’re nothing but talk.  Fancy talk and poor lies.”

“Talk back to me again, and you’ll see that I know more than biting words.  I didn’t raise an impetuous welp.”

“Leo he’s—“

Forrest’s laugh rang out again.  The book lit with the brush of his fingers.

Leo bit back a laugh of his own, but the hairs rose on the nape of his neck.  “Don’t do something you’ll regret.  This ends now.”  He raised his arm.

Brynhildr flashed bright as rosy brambles snaked up to seize Forrest’s legs.  He stumbled, a tangle of limbs and piercing thorns.  When he hit the ground, he stayed there, panting.

“That’s what I thought,” Leo said.

Forrest scoffed, every bit as biting as his father, then raised an arm to wipe at the blood dripping down his cheek.  “You just can’t bear the thought of me standing up for myself, can you, Father,” he murmured.  He scattered flames at the bushes entangling himself, groaning as the flame ate into his clothes and licked his skin. 

Leo stared, horrified.  “ _Forrest?!_ Just what are you doing—“  The vines snapped back into the ground with a jerk of his wrist.

A purple aura seethed around Forrest as he climbed to his feet, his pants charred and ripped, skin on his wrists and hands peeling and raw.  His lip twitched into a smirk.

“How much it takes for you to listen, Father.”  His eyes glinted unnaturally bright.

 “Forrest,” Leo breathed, every fragment of calm façade shattering as the colour drained from his face.  His hand found Takumi’s somewhere behind him.  His ears rang. 

“I’ve thought about killing myself on more than one occasion—save you the despair,” Forrest whispered.  The smile grew wider—and his caress on the tome almost sinister.  “But.  I’m not the problem here.  I was never the problem.  Only you, Father.  Only you were the problem.”

Leo was numb beneath icy sweat.  When his eyes met Forrest’s he saw something twisted—something so unlike his impetuous but kindhearted son.

“Fuck,” Leo breathed.  “He’s like Kiragi—“  He swallowed.  “Whoever is acting through Forrest.  I’m giving you a chance to leave my son.  Otherwise, I can’t promise I won’t kill you.”

Forrest laughed.  “I _am_ your son.  As much as you wish otherwise.” 

“Bullshit,” Leo spat.  His heart pounded so hard he could feet it rattling in his chest.  “—Forrest, I taught you better.  You have to fight this.  You have to come back to me.”

“ _Taught me better?_ ” Forrest said.  “The only thing you taught me—is that I’m a disgrace.  Because I will never measure up to your expectations—no matter how hard I try.  To you, I’m worth less than the dirt in the deeprealm that you dumped me in so you wouldn’t have to remember your failure of a son.”

Leo’s breathing came in ragged gasps.  “I don’t.  think you’re a disgrace.”

Forrest did not move.  He shook his head, clicking his tongue.  “You can’t take back words like that, Father.  You can’t patch a bandaid of platitudes over harsh insults so easily.”  He scoffed, examining the nails on one hand before using it to flick his hair back behind his shoulder.  “It’s a shame though, Father.  I’d yearned for any kind of acknowledgement from you.  Any sort of praise.  And you come to me with too little too late.  It’s just too bad, Father.  Too bad that you’re not worthy of me and I shan’t give your words the time of day anymore.”

“Forrest please,” Leo said.  “I know the real you is in there.  I know how this works.  I know what has you.”  He took another step forward.  Anguish twisted his face, but his words were calm.

“You wouldn’t know the real me,” Forrest spat.  “Because you never bothered to try to get to know me.”  His curls bounced with a haughty shake of his head.

Finally, a sob grated Leo’s throat, infiltrated his voice and shook his shoulders.  “Forrest.”  He swallowed, biting his lip so hard it bled.  “Forrest.  It’s because I didn’t know _how_.  I didn’t know how to meet you halfway—and I’m _sorry_ —I’ve failed you as a father.  I know that.“

Forrest hesitated, mouth open as if to speak.  He shuddered, a flash of fear sparking his eyes before they glinted hard.  “Enough with your excuses, Father.  Own up to your misdeeds without excuses.”  He lit the pages of his tome with a stroke of his fingers.  “Because I never want to hear your voice again.”

Leo stumbled away from the flame bursting near his feet.  The world moved too slowly but too quickly, Leo’s mind racing so frantically that it tangled in on himself.  His heart pounded as if trying to catch his thoughts.  His lungs burned.  His limbs shook.

Yet all he saw was Forrest, clearly defined despite the buzz in his skull and the numbness ringing in his ears. 

Forrest giggled, smile not quite reaching his eyes, and hurled another ball of fire—this one straight for Leo’s chest.  It obliterated the trees in its path, growing in size until it seared as bright as the sun.

“Goodbye, Father!”

“LEO, _Move_ —“ Takumi screamed.  He lunged, taking Leo down by his knees.  They crashed in the underbrush, down a hill as the fireball fizzled out around them.  A charred hole ate into the foliage where Leo had been standing.

Leo coughed back the taste of bile, and climbed to his feet.

The next fireball he stopped, hand raised as he swiped magic across another tome.  Wind ripped the fire into harmless wisps. 

Forrest’s grin was almost feral.  “Ah, Father.  You always were a genius, they said.  I suppose that almost counts as a redeeming quality.  It will make my victory that much more meaningful.”

“Takumi,” Leo murmured.  “This is my fight.  Find Kiragi, okay.  Find him before it’s too late.”

Takumi hesitated.  “Will you be okay?”

Leo pushed the corner of his mouth into a smile every bit as pained as the ache in his chest.  “You know I will be.  And so will you.  Just go and Forrest and I will catch up.”

Takumi nodded and darted through the trees, glimpse back one last time to see the purple flash of Brynhildr.

And hear the whip of vines.

And Forrest’s scream.


End file.
